my public Hypnosis Lecture 3-25-2013

UNC-CH School of Social Work’s Clinical Lecture Series CLS.UNC.EDU EvidenceBased Hypnosis for Our Clients and Ourselves talk March 25, 2013 is described and has back round articles/reference materials. The video will be up on that site eventually, and here when they post it on their site.

2 Responses to my public Hypnosis Lecture 3-25-2013

Did you see the Parade magazine yesterday? Marilyn vos Savant posted this Q&A and I wondered what you might have to say about her answer…does she get it right?

E.P. in Colorado Springs, Colo., writes:
We all know that people can be hypnotized to help them ­remember lost or ­repressed memories. From a scientific standpoint, why can’t hypnosis be used to allow people to ­forget ­traumatic or painful memories?

Marilyn responds:
It can, but it doesn’t have the most desired effect—to help people feel better. Why? ­Because memories are ­chemical, meaning that they have substance, however slight. (Otherwise, they could not exist.) People who can be hypnotized—not ­everyone can be hypnotized, among them yours truly—may ­respond to the suggestion to “forget” ­certain events, all right, but this action simply prevents them from being able to recall the episodes. The memory itself still exists in their brains, and so does the aftermath and the many relevant associations that are accessible, right up to the present. The result is that the people still feel bad but ­cannot recall why. ­Eliminating the physical matter of the memory is beyond the reach of hypnosis. And how would the long-term rami­fications of the event throughout one’s life be eliminated, anyway?

By the way, when the ­suggestion to forget is withdrawn, all of the memories ­return, which is ­understandable: After all, they never left; they were just ­inaccessible.

Hi J, Her answer showed a lack of experience and depth of understanding of modern clinical hypnosis – in short, I didn’t like it because it was very mis-leading. It’s been a while since I read it, but I sure remember my general impression. Dr Bob